Part 4 › Chapter 19 › Section 4: Tit. 4. Cases of Conscience about Lending and Borrowing., A Christian Directory by Richard Baxter (1673) | AskReformation

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§. 22. All the instances before given are notoriously charitable. That which is for the preservation of the lives and comforts of the poor, and of Orphans, or for the enriching of my neighbour is an act of Charity: But such is some Usury, past all doubt; as is before declared. Where the contrary is an act of cruelty, the Usury is not against Charity, but for it. For the Rich to deny to the poor and Orphans a part of that gain, which they make by the improvement of their own money, is oppression and cruelty: If it be cruel to let a Beggar dye or starve, when we should feed and clothe him of our own; much more to let the poor and Orphans starve and perish rather than give them the increase of their own, or part of it at least. As for them that say, It may be as well improved otherwise, they are unexperienced men: It is a known falsehood as to the most: though some few may meet with such opportunities. At least it is nothing to them that cannot have other ways of improving it: who are very many.

§. 22. All the instances before given are notoriously charitable. That which is for the preservation of the lives and comforts of the poor, and of Orphans, or for the enriching of my neighbour is an act of Charity: But such is some U•ury, past all doubt; as is before declared. Where the contrary is an act of cruelty, the Usury is not against Charity, but for it. For the Rich to deny to the poor and Orphans a part of that gain, which they make by the improvement of their own money, is oppression and cruelty: If it be cruel to let a Beggar dye or starve, when we should feed and clothe him of our own; much more to let the poor and Orphans starve and perish rather than give them the increase of their own, or part of it at least. As for them that say, It may be as well improved otherwise, they are unexperienced men: It is a known falshood as to the most: though some few may meet with such opportunities. At least it is nothing to them that cannot have other wayes of improving it: who are very many.

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§. 23. Moreover, when it is not an act of Charity, yet it may be not against Charity in these cases: 1. When the lender is poor and the borrower rich: Yea, it may be a sin to lend it freely: Prov. 22. 16. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want: It is a giving to the rich to lend freely that money which they improve to the increase of their riches. 2. When the lender is not obliged to that act of Charity, though the borrower be poorer than himself. Which falleth out in an hundred cases: which may be comprised under this one general; When the lender is obliged to expend that same money in some other greater, better work: As at the same time while a man that is worth but twenty pound a year, is in debt to a man that hath a thousand pound a year, there may be a hundred or thousand poor people worth nothing ready to perish, whom the rich is rather bound to succour, than him that hath but twenty pound a year. And there may be works of piety (as to set up a School, or promote the preaching of the Gospel) which may be as great as either. And the richest that is, cannot do all the good that is to be done, nor relieve all the persons that are in want: Therefore when he must leave much undone, if he would give all his substance, it is (caeteris paribus) a sin, to give that to a man that can make shift without it, and pass by an hundred in much deeper necessity and distress: So that he who either exerciseth Charity in his Usury, or doth nothing against Charity and Justice, certainly sinneth not by that Usury. For all the Scriptures which speak against Usury, speak against it as a cruel or uncharitable thing.

§. 23. Moreover, when it is not an act of Charity, yet it may be not against Charity in these cases: 1. When the lender is poor and the borrower rich: Yea, it may be a sin to lend it freely: Prov. 22. 16. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want: It is a giving to the rich to lend freely that money which they improve to the increase of their riches. 2. When the lender is not obliged to that act of Charity, though the borrower be poorer than himself. Which falleth out in an hundred cases: which may be comprized under this one general; When the lender is obliged to expend that same money in some other greater, better work: As at the same time while a man that is worth but twenty pound a year, is in debt to a man that hath a thousand pound a year, there may be a hundred or thousand poor people worth nothing ready to perish, whom the rich is rather bound to succour, than him that hath but twenty pound a year. And there may be works of piety (as to set up a School, or promote the preaching of the Gospel) which may be as great as either. And the richest that is, cannot do all the good that is to be done, nor relieve all the persons that are in want: Therefore when he must leave much undone, if he would give all his substance, it is (caeteris paribus) a sin, to give that to a man that can make shift without it, and pass by an hundred in much deeper necessity and distress: So that he who either exerciseth Charity in his Usury, or doth nothing against Charity and Iustice, certainly sinneth not by that Usury. For all the Scriptures which speak against Usury, speak against it as a cruel or uncharitable thing.

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Answ. As is before said, When its against either Justice or Charity: 1. When its like cheating bargaining, which under pretence of consent and a form of Justice doth deceive, or oppress, and get from another that which is not truly ours but his. 2. When you lend for increase •here charity obligeth you to lend freely: Even as it is a sin to lend expecting your own again, when Charity obligeth you to give it. 3. When you uncharitably exact that which your brother is disabled utterly to pay, and use cruelty to procure it, (be it the Use or the principal). 4. When you allow him not such a proportion of the gain as his labour, hazard or poverty doth require; but because the money is yours, will live at ease upon his labours. 5. When in case of his losses you rigorously exact your due, without that abatement, or forgiving debts (whether Use or principal,) which humanity and charity require. In a word, when you are selfish and do not as, according to true judgement, you may desire to be done by, if you were in his case.

Answ. As is before said, When its against either Iustice or Charity: 1. When its like cheating bargaining, which under pretence of consent and a form of Justice doth deceive, or oppress, and get from another that which is not truly ours but his. 2. When you lend for increase •here charity obligeth you to lend freely: Even as it is a sin to lend expecting your own again, when Charity obligeth you to give it. 3. When you uncharitably exact that which your brother is disabled utterly to pay, and use cruelty to procure it, (be it the Use or the principal). 4. When you allow him not such a proportion of the gain as his labour, hazard or poverty doth require; but because the money is yours, will live at ease upon his labours. 5. When in case of his losses you rigorously exact your due, without that abatement, or forgiving debts (whether Use or principal,) which humanity and charity require. In a word, when you are selfish and do not as, according to true judgement, you may desire to be done by, if you were in his case.